


Only Scales

by Ehanu



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: M/M, Slow Burn, This fanfiction is going to be a royal mess, Transformation, Zora Link, but I want to see it come to fruition darn it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-18
Updated: 2018-05-18
Packaged: 2019-05-08 11:54:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14693700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ehanu/pseuds/Ehanu
Summary: The Calamity vanquished, peace can return to the land of Hyrule once again. Towns can be rebuilt, lives recollected, and stories started anew. But there is but one place that peace has yet to return. Can the history of Hyrule's past warriors and heroes finally bring peace to the last Champion? Or will he wallow in regret for words not shared? The hero will find that, in his inaction, certain other entities will push for a resolution to his little problem.But blast it all, why do Link's words always fail him at the sight of the tall Prince?





	Only Scales

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea for a fanfic for a long while ever since Majora's Mask, really. But it wasn't until Breath of the Wild helped me realize that Zora can be so sexy that the idea bloomed. It's still a work in progress, so updates will be sporadic. Plus I'm not terribly good at writing. Any and all comments are welcome!

Within the realm of dreams, Link opened his eyes. Darkness greeted his gaze with not a single hint of light to be seen. Rain, there was rain falling from the sky. He could feel it on his skin, even through the blue tunic he wore. He suddenly could see a field through the darkness, but it wasn't recognizeable. He saw a lake, Lake Hylia? No, couldn't be. The bridge here was missing all of its pillars, but somehow remained intact.

It was like this every night, Link was growing used to it now and wasn't even surprised anymore. He wasn't sure when he had started being able to consciously move around in the dreams and since then he had made it a habit to sit on the cliff beside the bridge overlooking the lake. Link didn't know why he had these dreams, or even why the only thing he felt while gazing on the lake was regret. He just knew that he would feel terrible in the morning.

But why did he feel this way? He saved Hyrule, so why wasn't he feeling the joy of knowing the calamitous entity of rage would not return for thousands of generations?

And then he would wake up to greet the world anew, unable to recall most of his dream except for that aching regret that so plagued him in his sleeping thoughts.

He was grateful it didn't last after his eyes opened, just as it had today as his awareness came back to him. Link's room was out of focus as he returned to consciousness, but it began to resolve into the familiar ceiling of a stable. Sitting up, he stretched his arms, his joints popping with the return of movement. It was at this point the final vestiges of his dream vanished as a trio of notes played twice in his mind.

Even though it left a minimal impact on him when he had finally awoken, Link couldn't help but wonder what it meant. Why regret? It left him grasping at straws and confused more than anything, but it still troubled him that it was so regular an occurrence.

It was still dark out, Link realized. The sun wasn't even near enough the horizon to signal its coming rise. There wasn't even the inn-keeper at this time, meaning it was dead middle of the night. The Hero of Hyrule wasn't known for being a light sleeper, rather he was known to need more than one solid push on the shoulder to even bring him near enough to wakefulness to realize he was being awakened. Link dragged himself from his bed, feeling oddly refreshed instead of the fatigue he expected to feel from a mere 3 hours of rest. Taking the Sheikah Slate and hooking it to his belt, he stepped over to the door of the stable and gazed at the surrounding landscape.

He took a deep breath of the chilly air drifting through the Gerudo Canyon, the wind still moving towards the desert carrying the residual heat from the red rock canyon. Placing his hand on the doorway, he once again marveled at how the simple act of destroying Ganon was enough to make an already-peaceful land even more peaceful. The nights seemed calmer, the wildlife more abundant, and people were generally happier.

Link found himself feeling the regret starting to come back to him, for the first time in the waking world. He felt... lost.

He wondered if any of his ancestors, the other Heroes that preceded him, if any of them felt this same inexplicable longing for something unknown after they put down Ganon in his other forms. Did the Hero of Time long for the lost time? Did the Hero of Wind long for a family he had to leave? Did the Hero of Twilight long for his love separated by the shadows? But what was he, the Hero of Wilds, longing for?

His wanderings brought him to the foot of the hill that overlooked the stable. Link grabbed the rock face and hoisted himself up, making it up to the shrine in record time. The gentle blue glow of the Sheikah construct gave a cool sort of calm to the tulmutuous wind currents that blew right by. He knelt at the pool near to the shrine and splashed some water on his face, having given up on returning to sleep tonight. The short climb had done good to wake him, as did the water allowing him to get his thoughts in better order.

Thinking over the events of the day, Link strove to distract himself. The Princess-now-Queen had ordered an early start from Rito Village in an attempt to make it to Gerudo Town before the night fell, but a thunderstorm had forced them into the nearest grove of trees. They waited out the storm, Link signing about his adventures since waking, while Zelda told him stories of before the Calamity's awakening. The rain had soon lifted and they were again on their way to their final stop in their round-Hyrule tour to visit each Divine Beast and their associated peoples.

The night sky was bright from the glow of the moon and stars, drawing Link's eyes to the heavens. They twinkled with a seeming sort of beckoning that drew in the eyes of wanderers that felt such as Link did:

Lonely.

Link wasn't sure how much time passed with him staring at the stars feeling lonesome, but it was long enough that he started to feel his eyelids droop a little. Something in the sky above glistened, drawing his eyes upwards as the evident tail of a shooting star made itself known to the sky. He wasn't one to put much faith in the "wish on a shooting star" tale, but not even the Hero of the Wilds could resist making a subconscious wish to be happy.

He was aware of the amber glow of a fire before he heard the pawsteps. The chuffing pants of breathing made Link momentarily freeze until he turned his gaze behind him. To see a wolf padding its way towards him caused an instinctual reach for the Master Sword, but when the canine grew closer, he relaxed his grip as the beast continued to show a lack of any form of hostility. It came over towards him, allowing the azure glow of the shrine to bring its form to bear.

To say the wolf looked even more ferocious than all the carnivores that tried to make a meal of Link was an accurate assumption. Black fur with white markings along its sides and muzzle, with a strange symbol on the head between the ears. It came close to Link with a warm blue gaze that felt as if it were looking into his soul.

The wolf took a seat next to Link and turned its muzzle skyward, silently prompting for the Hero to do the same. He turned his eyes to the sky above once more as the wolf sat vigil with him in silence. It was a long moment spent in star-gazing before Link moved his hand to the wolf's head and started to rub its furry head. The lupine's ear twitched but then the beast tilted its head into the petting, soon bumping its head into his chest.

Its paws moved towards Link's lap as he slowly rubbed between the wolf's ears, soon thumping down onto his legs with a decisiveness that spoke louder than words that the wolf was now his companion. Following immediately thereafter was the muzzle of the wolf, falling right into Link's lap that only sealed the decision.

This wolf would go with him in his travels now.

The pair remained outside watching the heavens, Link's lupine companion fallen asleep while the Hylian remained wide awake. He was turning 20 tomorrow, he realized. Or, he corrected with a chuckle, he was 120. Already a man by Hylian standards, but still so young with much of his future ahead of him. He had never minded his birthdays all that much before, since everyone was so focused on his status as the Chosen Hero and he was so focused on preparing to defend Zelda in their inevitable fight against Ganon.

Link sucked in a breath as he involuntarily remembered how well that had turned out. He rubbed the wolf's fur a little more determinedly, the lupine's dark fur ironically the best guard to stave off his inner darkness.

Coming back to himself, Link instead focused on the future. Of all the things that would occur to him about birthdays, he found himself locking onto one tradition that seemed to persist, even in these days after the banishment of the Calamity. It was strange how he found himself fixating onto how it was considered good luck if one made a wish on the very eve of their day of birth. It was said that if they whose day of coming into the world were to make their wish as the moon rose to the highest point in the sky, marking another cycle of life, then they were likely to receive that which they desired.

Chancing a look at the Sheikah Slate, Link noticed the time was a mere few minutes off from midnight. He glanced up towards the moon and saw it was near its peak in the sky. Taking in a breath, Link couldn't help but let his one desire come to the front of his mind. He closed his eyes and held it there for a long moment, bathing in the questions of "what if" should he impossibly find his desire had come to be.

Opening his eyes, Link caved in and let his hand wander over the fur of the wolf, the lupine already making great huffs of breath indicative of sleep. Only Hylia knew his wish now, but it would be a rather crazy thing if it came true. Despite himself, Link found a smile pulling at his face.

Yeah, that would be something else.


End file.
